4000 miles down

We spent 2 days camping in Durango, CO at the RV site of Erin and Mike Hill as well as their wonderful children Brian and Kerry. The first day we drove through the Rockys to the towns of Silverton and Ouray. The drive itself was the main purpose of the trip. We had absolutely spectacular views. It was also the first time we had to use the Prius' engine braking feature for any significant amount of time and it proved itself adequate. While we were in Silverton we hit up a local brewery which had some quite tasty craft brews including a very good barley wine. They also served very tasty green chile soup. As Mandy mentioned Ouray had an awesome little park maintained by the city called Box Canyon Falls. A waterfall channeled down the mountain in a pretty awesome show of force. We did dinner at the camp site that evening with the Hills. We cooked up a campfire pizza (our first) with mediocre results. We’ll do better next time. Mike made burgers with roasted green chile. Very tasty.

As planned I got the Prius’ first oil change the next morning and Mandy and I took off to Mesa Verde. It was packed for a Tuesday. We got there around 11 AM. The first tour was available @ 4 PM. So, we didn’t tour the cliff ruins, but I did get some pictures. We did tour some of the ruins on top of the mesa that are open with out having a ranger present and guiding. We also took a 3 mile hike on the petroglyph trail. Petroglyphs are images carved in to rock. The hike was awesome but taxing. It ranged from 7000 to 8000 feet and I’m definitely not acclimated nor in shape. The scenery was awesome and the petroglyphs were neat if a little anti-climactic. The hike ended in a climb up to the top of the mesa, and the views from the top were incredible…they would have left me breathless if I hadn’t already been. Mandy was especially proud of us on this hike because we were only 2 of many hiking groups to complete this hike. We passed many groups of hikers who just gave up and headed back the way they came despite the trail being a loop. We ended the day with dinner in Durango with the Hills at a Mexican joint. All of our meals were excellent as was the company.

I’m writing now from a coffee shop in Page, AZ. We’re about 2-3 hours outside of Zion and will arrive in good time to set up camp comfortably and hopefully have a nice fire. On the way here we hit 4 corners and took pictures…about all you really can do at 4 corners. We’ll write and post again as soon as we get another opportunity!